Opinion Poll Results

Hi
everyone!  I really feel like I need to apologize for not getting this
episode out sooner.  You are probably receiving this episode on or after
Tuesday, August 5th 2008.  I promised to have this episode to you a week
ago, so I’m going to go ahead and combine it with the one I promised to have for
you this week.
 
What I’m alluding to is the ‘Short Opinion Poll’ on
which I had tried to get some blind discussion going.  I got only a handful
of responses, but they ...<< MORE >>

Episode 14
 
News:
I just signed up for the next semester of the 2-part woodworking set of classes at the local community college.

I got the plans for the Baby Changing Table yesterday - along with a couple of catalogs.  So, I went and got wood for the changing table today.  I bought way too much, but at least I'll have enough for a very small side project later.

I cut my first dove tail!!!  I really needed a board fixed under one of the extension wings of my table saw so I could clamp things to it.  But I didn't have a board quite long enough.  ...<< MORE >>

Splintered Board Listeners/Readers,

I’m so sorry for the absence of episodes this week.  In the past two weeks I promised you 2 episodes for this week – a What I learned This Week episode, and an episode on the results of the Opinion Poll from a week and a half ago.  This week has been exhausting for me, and even though I recorded the WILTW episode, I don’t think I put forth much effort in it and I just can’t will myself to pollute your MP3 players with it.  I still haven’t gathered the results for the Opinion Poll.

...<< MORE >>

Episode 13 - What I Learned This Week - 2008.07.23

Welcome to the Splintered Board Podcast!
 
Woodworking Class
 
So it’s been 2 weeks since a real Splintered Board episode.  I know the audience is still pretty small, but nonetheless, I hope no one went through the Splintered Board DT’s J  I got back from STL yesterday afternoon after 5 hours of driving, dropped the kids off at their mother’s, then went to my house for an hour’s rest – where I proceeded to watch Norm put together, hmmm, something… I think I fell asleep.  Then I had to get my butt over to ...<< MORE >>

Played: 130 | Download | Duration: 00:06:34

Episode 12 - A Short Opinoin Poll

I want to get as many of the listeners' comments/opinions on a vague question.

Please listen to the episode, but here's the gist of it:

I've been receiving a bit of comments that lead me to believe that some of you think that I am headed down a path that will surely endanger myself and others.

My vague question (that I will not explain or elaborate upon) is this:
As a woodworker, what gives you (for lack of a better term) the 'right' to try something new within the craft/hobby; instruction (video, audio, personal lessons, fill in your favorite instruction media here) or hands on experience.

I will not be displaying any comments to this question/episode for a week and a half (roughly) and I go over them in an episode.  I'll also be going more in depth with you about why I decided to ask for your opinions.  Then I will display them all (unless you tell me not to share yours).  A week later, I'll be sharing my own opinion with you.

When the next few weeks' events have concluded I will then open up the comments sections of the episodes to immediately post your comments again.

Thanks!

Rick

        

Technorati Profile
I got out the jigsaw last night after 3 hours of chiseling out the mortise for the Thick Leg.  Unfortunately, I don't have the experience to be able to pull off a successful angled mortise and tenon. 

Not a big deal, really.  I will definitely have to learn how to do this in the future, but as I need to finish this table withing the next 3 weeks, I have to make it work sooner rather than later.

So, anyway, I cut the tenon on the Thick Leg to be square with the bottom of the Table Top.  ...<< MORE >>

Played: 145 | Download | Duration: 00:20:45

Episode 11 - Interim for 2008.07.13

News News News.  Lots of news and a little woodworking. 

Vacations
The Novice Garage Woodworker resurfaces!
Family News
The New Tree On The Block

Sorry for not having a 'What I Learned This Week' episode this week.  I'll be on vacation starting the day after class this week, so I won't be able to get an episode up for you.  Maybe a longer one in two weeks?  Maybe a couple of short one while I'm on vacation?  Maybe.

Check out the XLegTable progress on my photo album, click on XLeg Table

        

Played: 166 | Download | Duration: 00:39:49

Episode 10 - What I Learned This Week - 2008.07.08

There's no clock in my shop

There's no clock in my shop, and there's several reasons for that.  I'd like to say that the only reason is because when I'm in the shop, I WANT to lose track of time.  I WANT to be relaxed and not live by the clock.  The majority of the time I spend in the shop is after work and on weekends.  If I'm in there after work, I don't want to know that it's 11pm and I have to wake up in 4 1/2 hours to get ready for work again.  On the weekends, I don't want to know, on Sunday, that my weekend is almost over.

The shop, I guess like in a casino, no one wants to live by the clock.  We, or at least I, spend almost my whole week governed by the clock - even on weekends.  I just want to keep that time in my life free from the stress of timelines. 

Sure, glue-ups and finishing are time sensitive, but a simple oven timer, or wall socket timer connected to a lamp could alert you when the next step in your process is ready.  At least that way there's no visible clock in the room.

I guess this only really applies to those of us who are hobbiests.  Those of you who are making a living doing this, well, I can't speak for you.  How do you deal with time?

Dust, dust, everywhere; but nary a speck collected

Very anticlimactically, I am actually listening to MBW episode "Dust Collection Advice for Tablesaws" while I write this, hmmm, about 24 hrs too late.  In fact, when I woke up yesterday morning to design and build a dust collection system for my tablesaw, I didn't even know Matt had an episode on this exact topic.

So, to let you know my thinking/planning/building process yesterday...  I sat down at the kitchen table and drew out some plans for an upside-down pyramidal chute from the base of my contrator table saw to a hinged door that I could dump sawdust into a plastic bag when needed.  I also was going to cut a hole in the side of the chute to connect the shop-vac to.

I measured everything out, made up a parts list and went to Lowes.  I was able to find everything I needed, except a 3" to 2" hose reducer (for the jointer), and a dust collection bag that I was going to use to catch all of the dusty air that the shop-vac blows out.

So, I get everything home and I start cutting the pieces to form a pyramid.  The only thing is that the base of the table saw is not square, it's rectangular.  For once my geometry failed me.  I failed to realize that a non-square-based pyramid will have a different bevel angle than a square one.  I just bevelled the edges of the triangles at 45 degrees and noticed that the pieces never fit - at all.

So Plan B was to take the small amount of 1/2" plywood I had left and enclose the bottom of the table saw in a box with a slanted bottom and a hose hole cut-out.  So, I cut out a few pieces that will fit the stand that the saw sits on, but at that point I was out of time to play around with it for the day.

So, this morning while looking for more MBW episodes to listen to, I see the one I mentioned above that is right up my alley.  I started listening and Matt says he has pictures of his solution.  I take a look and it's almost exactly what I had already started to build.  Just that his is much more compact and looks a lot better...

Kickback Rounds 2, 3 and 4

OK, when I had said before that I had experienced kickback, I had no idea what I was talking about.  So, for one of the biggest things I learned this week, kickback is dangerous.  Very dangerous.

Didn't I know this?  Of course I knew.  Didn't I try to prevent it then?  Of course I did - when I remembered to.  Believe me, I'll remember everytime now.

So, what happened?  Well, while I was cutting plywood for the dust collection bin for the tablesaw, I was having trouble feeding the wood, keeping it flat on the table, keeping it up against the fence, and standing on the left side of the blade.  Well, I was ripping a 2'x4' piece of plywood down the middle and the right half got caught on the splitter.  So instead of backing off the blade, I tried to push it against the splitter and force it to back off the table. 

Big mistake!  The board lifted, spun and flew across the garage.  It caught my index finger and shaved a lot of skin off it before it hit me in the upper thigh - a little too close to home if you know what I mean.

I was pissed!  Especially when it happened 2 more times that day.  I don't know what was wrong with me on Sunday, but I just couldn't cut anything right that day.  Eventually I just threw all the wood on the garage floor and gave up for the day.  So, there everything still sits and my wife can't be too happy.  But, I think sometimes you just gotta take your lumps and give up for the day.  That's what I did. 

Now I understand all of the things I was doing wrong:
1) I wasn't using my push sticks.
2) The splitter wasn't aligned properly - something I'd been meaning to fix
3) I wasn't paying as close attention as I should have been
4) I was saying "Fingers and thumbs don't be dumb" but I wasn't heeding that warning.

Listen for Notes on Class and my take on Furnitology's interview with Wendell Castle (part 1).

        

Episode 9 - What I Learned This Week - 2008.07.01

Notes on Jointer setup:

1) I've heard the jointer referred to, in the reviews section of HD's website, as mislabled as jointer, when it should have been labeled 'Box of grease.  Jointer included.'  Well, I would label it as 'Hernia in a box' or 'Be-careful-not-to-break-your-back-or-crush-your-hands-or-feet-while-offloading-this-from-your-car'

2) The instructions were written by someone who meant well.  But they really should have done some proof-reading.  The instructions often include 'as shown in illustration' when it was definitely ...<< MORE >>